U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports hit a record 11.7 million metric tons in March 2026, mainly driven by global panic buying and supply disruptions triggered by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Missile and drone attacks on Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City in March damaged critical infrastructure, forcing major outages and positioning the U.S. as a vital swing producer. LNG facilities in Louisiana handled roughly 1.8 million more metric tons in March 2026 compared to March 2025, with Louisiana currently handling ~61% of all U.S.…

India's Oil Minister Hardeep Puri is visiting Qatar on Thursday and Friday as India seeks to secure LNG and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply amid the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Puri will be on an official visit to the State of Qatar on April 9-10, 2026, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement early on Thursday. Puri is expected to press Qatari officials to prioritize supply of LNG and LPG, which is widely used as a cooking fuel in India, to the country, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. India relies…

The fragile cease-fire between the United States and Iran could hang in the balance over what Washington has labeled a "misunderstanding" over whether the truce includes Israel’s offensive against Tehran-backed Hezbollah assets in Lebanon. US Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to Hungary on April 8, said he believes there was a "legitimate misunderstanding" about the terms of the truce announced the night before by President Donald Trump. "I think the ‌Iranians thought that the cease-fire included Lebanon, and it just didn't," he…

The state refiner of Taiwan and commodity trading giant Glencore have each booked a tanker to travel to the Middle East and load oil, in a sign that crude customers are hoping for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. CPC, Taiwan's state refiner, has booked a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East and bring it to Taiwan in the coming weeks, Taiwanese Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, as carried by Reuters. "If passage is possible within the next two weeks…

The state refiner of Taiwan and commodity trading giant Glencore have each booked a tanker to travel to the Middle East and load oil, in a sign that crude customers are hoping for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. CPC, Taiwan's state refiner, has booked a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East and bring it to Taiwan in the coming weeks, Taiwanese Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, as carried by Reuters. "If passage is possible within the next two weeks…

China is considering several ways to support financially its struggling airlines which are reeling from the oil and fuel supply and price shock due to the Middle East crisis. The Chinese authorities are discussing various forms of support, including government-back preferential loans, subsidies, and preferential tax treatment, sources with knowledge of the deliberations told Bloomberg on Thursday. The last time China had to help and basically bail out its biggest air carriers was during the Covid pandemic, which hurt Chinese airlines the most amid…

March has turned into a month of hard power tests for Iran – and so far, it has been quietly exceeding expectations. By effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz to all but its own cargoes (or the ones that have received their approval), Tehran has demonstrated that the trajectory of the conflict is far from being dictated by its counterparts. Faced with the risk of acute shortages in medium-sour crude, the US administration has been forced into a partial sanctions retreat, allowing Iranian barrels already at sea to re-enter the market. The…

With fuel rationing beginning in some Asian countries and analysts warning Europe is next, talk has started about windfall profit taxes on Big Oil. The supermajors are the first target for additional taxes when oil prices surge, but they are not the only ones benefiting from such surges. This time around, the biggest winners are not just oil producers but oil producers with alternative export routes. The war that the United States and Israel started against Iran at the end of February has cost the Middle East’s petrostates some 11 million…

No country was more prepared for the war in Iran than China. As the rest of Asia reels from oil and gas shortages due to the Iran War, Beijing is sitting pretty thanks to its vast stores of crude oil and its enormous clean energy infrastructure. China has been building up its domestic clean energy sector faster than any other country on Earth at the same time that it has been stockpiling massive amounts of surplus oil and gas, all in anticipation of a major geopolitical disruption just like the one we’re seeing now. As a result, China is…